12 hours ago, big blue said:

I wouldn't call edgar davids mediocre. He was part of an outstanding juve team for 5/6years, which was one of the best teams in Europe.  

I agree with your point in general though. 

Haha, in retrospect Davids is a bad choice as his record is arguably better than Rjikaard's! Ended up being the perfect defensive foil for Zidane and then Xavi etc.

A better example from that team might be Jari Litmanen or Finidi George. Both had respectable careers but not on the same level as their teammates. 

Edited April 22, 20179 yr by SydneyChelsea

On 21/04/2017 at 00:31, zolawannabe25 said:

Thomas Lemar looks like a great prospect who's somewhat going under the radar with this impressive Monaco team.

According to comments attributed to Dembele, we tried to sign him two summers ago but he had no interest in joining us. Last summer he had his heart set on BVB because he felt it was the right club for his development.

Another consideration is that,  unless there was a buyout clause, the fee quoted to us would have been much greater than the one Dortmund paid. That's just the way clubs think when they are selling to the Premier League's big spenders.

On 4/22/2017 at 04:27, Scott Harris said:

It's because he is doing it on the biggest stage in football, it's the competition where the top players of the game make a name for themselves. He's taking on the best of Europe, scoring goals against them and looking like the best player on the pitch at the same time. It's not like Sterling who is classed as a future superstar for performing well against mid table Premier League teams.

Or Martial for ripping it up in Ligue 1, Mbappe has proven it on the highest stage, His attitude is perfect not like Martial, Who's world has seemingly unraveled because his girlfriend dumped him, He seems a really good prospect, Potential and attitude, Doesn't seem to be into all that social media and dabbing lark either.

On 4/22/2017 at 04:27, Scott Harris said:

It's because he is doing it on the biggest stage in football, it's the competition where the top players of the game make a name for themselves. He's taking on the best of Europe, scoring goals against them and looking like the best player on the pitch at the same time. It's not like Sterling who is classed as a future superstar for performing well against mid table Premier League teams.

i get what you're saying and there's no doubt he has talent, but goals against dortmund and city in the champions league doesn't mean he will turn out to be special in a few years time because city's defence isn't that good, and dortmund aren't exactly one of the best in europe. he could easily reach his prime now and last a few years, or he may not reach his prime at all. there's young players who score goals vs top teams all the time, but then turn out to become average.

 

at the moment he has pace and looks like he can finish, but so many 18 year olds of years past have looked like world beaters one season, then fall off the next season. i think him staying at monaco is best for his development, but not just that, clubs can truly analyse his true potential. at the moment he's a raw (but good) young player. look at lacazette, he's been consistent in ligue 1, but where has it got him? he's still playing for lyon and very few clubs look to be interested anymore. i for one would not want to see us spend 80 odd million on an 18 year old. give him 18 months to 2 years of consistency then we'll see, but right now no it's not worth the money monaco would want. we have tammy abraham from our own youth system, if he goes on loan to a prem side and does well, would it not be in our best interests to look to him as a young striker to have? 

Edited April 25, 20179 yr by enigma

11 minutes ago, enigma said:

i get what you're saying and there's no doubt he has talent, but goals against dortmund and city in the champions league doesn't mean he will turn out to be special in a few years time because city's defence isn't that good, and dortmund aren't exactly one of the best in europe. he could easily reach his prime now and last a few years, or he may not reach his prime at all. there's young players who score goals vs top teams all the time, but then turn out to become average.

 

at the moment he has pace and looks like he can finish, but so many 18 year olds of years past have looked like world beaters one season, then fall off the next season. i think him staying at monaco is best for his development, but not just that, clubs can truly analyse his true potential. at the moment he's a raw (but good) young player. look at lacazette, he's been consistent in ligue 1, but where has it got him? he's still playing for lyon and very few clubs look to be interested anymore. i for one would not want to see us spend 80 odd million on an 18 year old. give him 18 months to 2 years of consistency then we'll see, but right now no it's not worth the money monaco would want. we have tammy abraham from our own youth system, if he goes on loan to a prem side and does well, would it not be in our best interests to look to him as a young striker to have? 

In two years time Mbappe could be so good the only clubs able to sign him for marketing reasons will be Barca and Real, He could be worth £150/200 million. 80/90 million is the new 40/50 million, If Chelsea paid 50 for Torres a good 4/5 years ago surely the going rate in the market has reached 80/90 by now?

To be fair i can sort of understand what you're saying about giving Tammy Abraham a chance instead of buying a player equally as raw but are you against spunking big money full stop or just on more unproven players? If you bid £90 mill for Dele Alli surely you'd happy as Larry if that came off enigma? 

Too unproven to splash big money on him imo. This is the same Monaco team that Falcao is scoring for fun in, no proof Mbappe could do it in the prem. Give him another year then look at him again.

On 4/25/2017 at 08:06, RIP Mourinho said:

Too unproven to splash big money on him imo. This is the same Monaco team that Falcao is scoring for fun in, no proof Mbappe could do it in the prem. Give him another year then look at him again.

He'll probably move to Madrid for big money and take Bale's spot as he's been so injury prone lately. 

On 4/25/2017 at 09:06, RIP Mourinho said:

Too unproven to splash big money on him imo. This is the same Monaco team that Falcao is scoring for fun in, no proof Mbappe could do it in the prem. Give him another year then look at him again.

And let us not forget how Falcao struggled in the EPL. I know what we see is not directly traslatable but i would not want to spend Lukaku level money on a person unproven in the EPL or even across multiple seasons. 

On 4/25/2017 at 13:25, enigma said:

i get what you're saying and there's no doubt he has talent, but goals against dortmund and city in the champions league doesn't mean he will turn out to be special in a few years time because city's defence isn't that good, and dortmund aren't exactly one of the best in europe. he could easily reach his prime now and last a few years, or he may not reach his prime at all. there's young players who score goals vs top teams all the time, but then turn out to become average.

 

at the moment he has pace and looks like he can finish, but so many 18 year olds of years past have looked like world beaters one season, then fall off the next season. i think him staying at monaco is best for his development, but not just that, clubs can truly analyse his true potential. at the moment he's a raw (but good) young player. look at lacazette, he's been consistent in ligue 1, but where has it got him? he's still playing for lyon and very few clubs look to be interested anymore. i for one would not want to see us spend 80 odd million on an 18 year old. give him 18 months to 2 years of consistency then we'll see, but right now no it's not worth the money monaco would want. we have tammy abraham from our own youth system, if he goes on loan to a prem side and does well, would it not be in our best interests to look to him as a young striker to have? 

 

I agree with this, there has been far too many times when a young player had looked amazing and on the verge of becoming a superstar only for it to flop and end terribly. I mean remember what Utd fans (and plenty of others) were saying a bout Januzaj a few season ago? Now look at him.

On ?4?/?27?/?2017 at 12:04, brownindian said:

And let us not forget how Falcao struggled in the EPL. I know what we see is not directly traslatable but i would not want to spend Lukaku level money on a person unproven in the EPL or even across multiple seasons. 

I think it's unfair to compare them. Falcao's knees are almost non-existent, while Mbappe is oozing with technical skill and speed.

Sometimes you just know when you see a special talent and Mbappe has everything, I haven't seen a better teenager since Eden Hazard, but Mbappe could become even better, and reach R9's levels (hopefully without getting any serious injuries) he looks that good. 

The good thing is he apparently is a fan, he watches Chelsea all the time, hopefully we don't mess around in the summer and put a bid in for him maybe offer them Batshuayi in return 

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/798824/Chelsea-news-Kylian-Mbappe-Arsenal-Arsene-Wenger-Thierry-Henry-Monaco-latest-transfer

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2707239-chelsea-snubbed-kylian-mbappe-in-favour-of-dominic-solanke-tammy-abraham

On 4/25/2017 at 14:06, RIP Mourinho said:

Too unproven to splash big money on him imo. This is the same Monaco team that Falcao is scoring for fun in, no proof Mbappe could do it in the prem. Give him another year then look at him again.

If you've watched him more than 5 times for 90 minutes you need to re-educate yourself in how you watch football.

It is glaringly obvious he is on a level that doesn't come around very often.

1 minute ago, startedwithglenn said:

If you've watched him more than 5 times for 90 minutes you need to re-educate yourself in how you watch football.

It is glaringly obvious he is on a level that doesn't come around very often.

Ahh yes, the classic 'you have a different opinion so you know nothing about football!!!' argument. 

A large majority of his goals are him poaching rebounds in box. He has a great goal scoring record due to the fantastic service that is put to his feet in the same league Falcao and Balotelli score for fun. Sure he might make it big one day, he might also not make it. Give him another year to prove himself before making rash judgements. 

Football has gone mad 

7 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Ahh yes, the classic 'you have a different opinion so you know nothing about football!!!' argument. 

A large majority of his goals are him poaching rebounds in box. He has a great goal scoring record due to the fantastic service that is put to his feet in the same league Falcao and Balotelli score for fun. Sure he might make it big one day, he might also not make it. Give him another year to prove himself before making rash judgements. 

Mate, Falcao is by no means a sh*t striker. He flopped at Chelsea and United because he hadn't fully recovered from his injury and such injuries generally require a good run of games to get back to the level you were pre-injury and neither United nor Chelsea could afford the number of games he needed for any of that. Saying "in the same league Falcao scores for fun" as a way to diminish Mbappe's achievements is quite naive tbh. It's clear to anyone who's been watching Falcao this season that he's just now getting back to being pre-injury Falcao, even though he's still not fully there yet. Falcao has scored and performed well in the CL as well. Does that make the CL a tinpot competition too? Didn't 35 year old Zlatan also come from that same league to compete for a golden boot here? Scored for fun in France and would have scored even more than he did here if it wasn't clear that old age was catching up to him, considering the amount of absolute sitters he missed this season. He could have had 25 league goals if he wasn't 35 years old. And that's in England.

Mbappe is clearly a serious talent even as young as he is, just as it was clear to everyone that 16 year old Rooney was the real deal. There are some instincts and intangibles that go along with ability that this kid possesses and you don't often see them in footballers. They're usually found in great players. He's going to be a great striker, there's no question about that.

EDIT: One more thing; everyone knows Balotelli's problem is hardly his talent. It's his attitude. If he had the attitude of a Drogba/Eto'o/Henry, he'd have gone on to absolutely destroy teams week in week out. As much as he underwhelmed in England, he also underwhelmed in Italy for AC Milan and his career was in the toilet because of his own attitude. He has gotten a bit of it back together playing for Nice and that's why he's scoring now. Got nothing to do with the league. Not sure why you're attacking Ligue 1. It's the same league that gave us Hazard, Azpilicueta and a certain Drogba.

Edited May 2, 20179 yr by Barrettinator

1 minute ago, Barrettinator said:

Mate, Falcao is by no means a sh*t striker. He flopped at Chelsea and United because he hadn't fully recovered from his injury and such injuries generally require a good run of games to get back to the level you were pre-injury and neither United nor Chelsea could afford the number of games he needed for any of that. Saying "in the same league Falcao scores for fun" as a way to diminish Mbappe's achievements is quite naive tbh. It's clear to anyone who's been watching Falcao this season that he's just now getting back to being pre-injury Falcao, even though he's still not fully there yet. Falcao has scored and performed well in the CL as well. Does that make the CL a tinpot competition too? Didn't 35 year old Zlatan also come from that same league to compete for a golden boot here? Scored for fun in France and would have scored even more than he did here if it wasn't clear that old age was catching up to him, considering the amount of absolute sitters he missed this season. He could have had 25 league goals if he wasn't 35 years old. And that's in England.

Mbappe is clearly a serious talent even as young as he is, just as it was clear to everyone that 16 year old Rooney was the real deal. There are some instincts and intangibles that go along with ability that this kid possesses and you don't often see them in footballers. They're usually found in great players. He's going to be a great striker, there's no question about that.

Falcao played 29 games with Utd, he got a run and never looked like being dangerous. You can blame the injury but he wasn't suited to the prem. Zlatan hit 38 goals in the French league in 31 games in his final season and then 17 in 28 in the prem, whichever way you look at it the French league is nowhere near the same level as the prem. Ben Arfa ripped that league up after leaving Newcastle. 

I'm not disputing that he will very likely may make it at a top club, the fact still stands he may not quite as easily. For the 70 odd million we'd be spending on him i wouldn't feel like we would be challenging at the very top with him leading the line week in week out next season. Would rather a sum like that be spent on someone who is ready to lead a top side now.

8 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Falcao played 29 games with Utd, he got a run and never looked like being dangerous. You can blame the injury but he wasn't suited to the prem. Zlatan hit 38 goals in the French league in 31 games in his final season and then 17 in 28 in the prem, whichever way you look at it the French league is nowhere near the same level as the prem. Ben Arfa ripped that league up after leaving Newcastle. 

I'm not disputing that he will very likely may make it at a top club, the fact still stands he may not quite as easily. For the 70 odd million we'd be spending on him i wouldn't feel like we would be challenging at the very top with him leading the line week in week out next season. Would rather a sum like that be spent on someone who is ready to lead a top side now.

We're not going to buy him, neither would we even bid for him so that's out of the question. We're going for a striker who can lead us to a CL next season, which Mbappe is still too young for, in terms of responsibilities. And no one spends that kind of amount just for a back up striker. So there you go.

Zlatan, a 35 year old, scored 17 in 28 in the league (28 in all comps, iirc) with a sh*t United team who were clearly much worse than what he had at PSG. You have to put things into context. Yes, the level of competition in Ligue 1 is not as high as the PL but still, this "PL proven" argument doesn't work as well as it used to some 10 years ago. A lot of foreign players have ripped that argument to shreds. 

Purely as a player who's only 18, there's still a big chance that Mbappe could turn out to be an average striker by 24 but most signs are pointing towards him being the real deal right now.

11 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Falcao played 29 games with Utd, he got a run and never looked like being dangerous. You can blame the injury but he wasn't suited to the prem. Zlatan hit 38 goals in the French league in 31 games in his final season and then 17 in 28 in the prem, whichever way you look at it the French league is nowhere near the same level as the prem. Ben Arfa ripped that league up after leaving Newcastle. 

I'm not disputing that he will very likely may make it at a top club, the fact still stands he may not quite as easily. For the 70 odd million we'd be spending on him i wouldn't feel like we would be challenging at the very top with him leading the line week in week out next season. Would rather a sum like that be spent on someone who is ready to lead a top side now.

You can't really knock the French league when Chelsea have such a good record of signing players from there. Cech, Drogba, Malouda, Essien and Hazard. 

And if Mbappe was to sign for Chelsea I doubt he would be out 1st choice I think he would mostly play in the inside right position behind the striker with Hazard on the left.

On 4/29/2017 at 16:32, PraetorianGuard said:

I think it's unfair to compare them. Falcao's knees are almost non-existent, while Mbappe is oozing with technical skill and speed.

Sorry - My point was that Falcao struggled to adapt to our league but is lethal in the French league. There is a chance Mbappe might be in a similar boat so considering the amount of money that he is valued @, I want to see more than 1 season of amazing play.

On 5/2/2017 at 22:23, Barrettinator said:

Football has gone mad 

The reason they probably did that is because they know big moron clubs like Utd and City will overpay like crazy for players because of all the money they have, so essentially they are just taking advantage because they know there's a good chance it could actually happen

On 5/3/2017 at 07:54, pacquiao said:

You can't really knock the French league when Chelsea have such a good record of signing players from there. Cech, Drogba, Malouda, Essien and Hazard. 

And if Mbappe was to sign for Chelsea I doubt he would be out 1st choice I think he would mostly play in the inside right position behind the striker with Hazard on the left.

we've signed better players from the french league than the premier league.

people can have their say on the overall quality of ligue 1 or even on the teams and how they perform in europe, but as far as producing talent, it's miles ahead of the premier league and possibly any league in europe for that matter.

i wish i could say chelsea fans were having debates on whether or not we should of spent, what we spent on hazard way back when he was at lille...but by the time 2012 came around chelsea fans the world over were all in universal agreement that hazard was not only worth the money, but that he would, in time, be one of the best players in the world. however, one thing i wanted to note.... was that unlike mbappe, hazard actually had not really performed so well in europe for lille up to that point. i actually remember actually going out of my way to watch him play against liverpool years ago and remember him doing OK, even scoring against them in the first leg but getting smashed in the second leg.

i actually wanted us to sign him in 2010 and got into a lot of lengthy debates with people on other forums. lots of people weren't having any of it at the time. but i saw his endless ceiling i tells ya!!! - and i can see mbappe has something similar 8)

Mbappe will go for big money because he looks to be neymar quality and big clubs will take the gamble on him we are debating like we can turn our noses up we wouldn't get him even if we wanted him we would get out of my Utd or one of the Spanish clubs, that is why they end up with the ronaldos abd naymars they will pay big for young tallent if they have to 

On 5/3/2017 at 03:24, pacquiao said:

You can't really knock the French league when Chelsea have such a good record of signing players from there. Cech, Drogba, Malouda, Essien and Hazard. 

And if Mbappe was to sign for Chelsea I doubt he would be out 1st choice I think he would mostly play in the inside right position behind the striker with Hazard on the left.

you probably missed the steal of the decade: Azpilicueta

3 hours ago, didierforever said:

you probably missed the steal of the decade: Azpilicueta

Yes and Azpi, such a good league for us to sign players from